Watch SpaceX Launch a Falcon 9 and Attempt to Catch the Rocket Fairings

Update 10:58 a.m. EST: The SpaceX Falcon 9 launch was successful and the primary payload, the Paz satellite, was deployed in a low Earth orbit. The two SpaceX internet broadband test satellites were also successfully deployed in orbit.

SpaceX is gearing up to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Thursday, February 22, with an instantaneous launch window at 9:17 a.m. EST. SpaceX scrubbed the flight on Wednesday due to strong upper level winds, and the company will attempt to launch the Paz mission again today. A live webcast of the mission will start about 15 minutes before liftoff, which you can watch below.

The launch is a significant one for SpaceX. The primary payload is the large Paz satellite that belongs to Spanish satellite company Hisdesat. The synthetic aperture radar satellite headed to low Earth orbit will be able to pierce through cloud cover to image the surface of the planet.

The rocket, using a flight-proven booster, will also deposit two test satellites for SpaceX, Microsat-2a and -2b. These two satellites will begin testing broadband capabilities that SpaceX ultimately hopes to expand into a global internet service using more than 4,000 satellites. The full constellation is slated to come online in 2024.

But the most unique part of the launch will be a first-time attempt to catch the payload fairings of the rocket as they fall back to the Pacific Ocean. Part of SpaceX's overall goal of reusability, the company has redesigned the nose cone for the Falcon 9 that splits into two halves called payload fairings. The new steerable fairings will plummet back to Earth after separating to expose the satellites. To recover the fairings, SpaceX has a new boat called "Mr. Steven," which will attempt to catch at least one fairing with a net. Mr. Steven will go scoop the rocket parts up out of the water if it fails to snag them out of the air.

The booster for today's Paz mission, which first flew on the Formosat-5 mission on August 24, 2017, will not be recovered by SpaceX for a third flight. The California-based aerospace company will instead focus on recovering the fairings. The more parts of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle that SpaceX can recover and reuse, the closer the aerospace company will be to Elon Musk's ultimate goal of fully reusable rockets, landing and flying again like airplanes.

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